Riding that Struggle bus at 9000ft

Miles: 5.87 + 1mile side trip for water
Start time: 7:02am
End time: 3:38pm
High / Avg / Low temp: 70.7F / 61.1F / 46.8F
Relative Humidity Avg: 22.0%
Injuries: none to report

Last night was such an excellent camp site, waking up with that location was beyond excellent, even if it was before 5am.. Not my favorite time of the day yet, and I secretly fear this trail will do irreparable damage to my ability to sleep in.. But time will tell on that one..

Our morning routine was smooth as usual, but we are definitely feeling the lower oxygen % up here, it's not like Everest or anything, but that at least has base camps at intervals to help acclimate you, we are just sucking it up and resting plenty, which is why in 8hrs we didn't quite make it 7 miles

Thankfully we did make it to the water source today plus a bit further, after about one mile tomorrow we'll be at the end of the mountain range and it'll be a 7000ft elevation loss in 19miles give or take to the next water source, the few downhills we did today weren't bad, was just the climbs that really highlighted our lack of acclimatized leg meat and lungs, it's been a good lesson

In a few days we'll have to ascend back to 9000ft so we'll definitely be adjusting our plans and expectations, the big bonus though is the next town and resupply is at the top of that climb, big bear!!

Today was filled with rest stops, a lil nap, and a chill out by the water at mile 186. 

Earlier today we made a happy accident and walked half a mile off trail, to a water source we had decided not to visit as it was to early in the day, but since we were there we picked up an extra litre of water each, brushed our teeth with impunity and sloshed some water on our dirt stained faces, life is good

Today's camp site is currently only occupied by us, a bunch of hikers just walked past and are likely heading to the camp site a mile from here, where we were going until we spotted this lil beauty of a place

Fingers crossed it stays our own lil getaway, so much easier to fill up a cat hole in the morning without worrying about prying eyes

Until tomorrow good people, happy trails